We have been one of the fortunate small business enablers of Virtual consulting. It does take time to adapt to the new way of work and design a balanced way of living. The coronavirus pandemic has forced us into the “Future world of work” sooner than anticipated, and literally, overnight, our businesses have had to shift their mindsets from “working from home” will never work in our business to this being the “only” working contingency option available if you want to keep your doors open.
We understand that not all working environments can effectively implement a Virtual working business model, it is best suited to support and administrative job functions.
As disastrous a threat COVID-19 poses to humanity, this forced changes in the way we work in our businesses. Our view may be biased for some. We see this as an opportunity for businesses to catch up to global business practices and benefit from this progressive working model.
We can vouch for improved efficiency experienced working virtually. Deadlines are met. Deliverables that took days to be actioned previously may be delivered earlier or at least on time. There are fewer distractions, demands from people in and out of your office during the day, corridor gossiping, and unplanned meetings which break the momentum are no longer present. Fewer requests for time off for personal appointments. Less absenteeism. Often people leave their desks at the end of the day without having checked off anything from their “to-do” lists. Presenteeism is a behavior witnessed in most working environments and becomes a thing of the past.
We appreciate that not all humans are self-motivated. Performance management will need to be implemented and where necessary disciplinary action is unavoidable.
We discovered innovative apps to support virtual work, enabling us to plan ahead and have opened up a whole new world in terms of how we can market business, communicate with clients, bookkeeping, holding meetings via zoom or skype is our most often used platform to communicate “face to face” with clients.
Our hands-on Virtual consulting service has proved viable and successful in supporting small and medium businesses to thrive.
Virtual consulting has been no different from being located in the office building and e-mailing from there, accessing the HRIS, from that office, scheduling meetings online and supporting line managers with HR Best practice advice on day-to-day operations virtually and via e-mail correspondence. Now we execute these support functions virtually from our “remote office”.
The major mindset shift is that you now need to be proactive and plan, you don’t have the luxury of quickly popping downstairs to have an invoice signed off, or approval of a policy, you now need to go paperless with online approvals.
Leveraging technology to work smarter and optimizing this infrastructure is no longer optional. Cost savings are a no-brainer. Less traffic means less environmental impact on our planet.
Resistance to change is a major obstacle, this takes time. Establishing your new virtual working model is going to pose different challenges, see these as opportunities!
We are all in this together and understand you may be navigating this for the first time, we are here to support you and hold your hand during your transition to a new world of work.
How is your working model working out for you? Need help with developing your virtual working policy, send us a mail.
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